Miatta Fahnbulleh says DESNZ will take 鈥榓rea-based鈥� approach to rolling out efficiency improvements

The new Labour government will build on the series of retrofit policies introduced under its Conservative predecessors rather than replacing them wholesale.

Strong new investment in retrofit has been a major feature of the party鈥檚 policy platform for a number of years, with energy secretary Ed Miliband a longstanding champion of measures to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

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Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for energy consumers, speaking at the Housing Community Summit in Liverpool today

In a keynote address to the Housing Community Summit this morning, a junior minister in Miliband鈥檚 department revealed that existing programmes would remain in place. These include the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister for energy consumers, told the conference: 鈥淲e are very clear that we cannot have a hiatus, and we absolutely need to short ensure that we鈥檙e maintaining the supply chain so that we can ramp up delivery for our warm homes plan鈥�.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) plans to bolster these programmes with an additional 拢6.6bn in funding over the course of the parliament, and Fahnbulleh also pledged to ensure minimum energy efficiency standards are introduced to the private rental sector by 2030.

Fahnbulleh, who was elected to parliament as part of the 2024 intake of new MPs, said the department would take an 鈥渁rea based approach鈥� to retrofit, working  鈥渉and in glove鈥� with housing associations, councils, combined authorities and mayors.

The Peckham MP鈥檚 brief in DESNZ includes the aforementioned efficiency schemes, as well as heat networks, demand reduction and energy consumer issues.

More from the Housing Community Summit

>> New public-private alliance for zero-bills MMC homes launched in Liverpool

鈥淭here is a generational opportunity to bring social housing and decarbonisation together, two things that I am very passionate about and that will be absolutely central to the role that I see myself playing in government,鈥� she said.

The minister鈥檚 speech was made on the first day of the new housing conference, which is jointly run by the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation.

Before her speech to the conference, Fahnbulleh visited a demonstration zero-bills home which has been built outside the conference centre.

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